Jurga Barilaitė Lithuanian, b. 1972
Jurga Barilaitė (b. 1972, Lithuania) is one of the best-known Lithuanian painters, interdisciplinary and performance artists. After obtaining her BA in Painting Studies at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 1996, Barilaitė became actively involved in creating interdisciplinary works and projects, including videos (which she herself describes as “moving pictures”), installations, visual projections and performances.
The artist’s early work is characterised by a neo-expressionist style and special sensitivity, an emphasis on self-reflection and monumentality. She has also explored a critical view on painterly media and the possibilities of its expansion into other forms. Barilaitė’s current work shows an on-going influence of pictorial thinking and the contextualisation of painting problems. Drawing inspiration from the so-called “action” painting style, she applies unconventional materials and techniques as well as performativity, highlighting elements of movement, the act of performance and bodily participation.
A personal, intimate, “tactile” relationship with the work is highly important in Barilaitė’s work, as well as the semantics she creates with the help of her own body and its actions. The ideas and imagery which form the basis of her work originate from the artist’s immediate environment: childhood memories and adolescent rebellion, motherhood and nomadic experiences are combined with the history of art, pop culture, and a feminist approach. The artist employs striking elements of shock and irony which she combines with the deconstruction of artistic action, highlighting repetition and evoking a sense of closedness, shamanism and ritualism. Her works are permeated with emotional diversity: sentimentality and sensitivity entwine with anger and aggression, Barilaitė’s reflections of her inner states contrast with her public image and fragments of her social life.
Jurga Barilaitė has been organising solo exhibitions and actively participating in group shows both in Lithuania and abroad since 1995. Her works are included in the collections of Lithuania’s National Gallery of Art, MO Museum in Vilnius and some private collections in Lithuania as well as other countries.
Born 1972 in Lithuania
Lives and works in Vilnius, Lithuania
EDUCATION/RESIDENCIES
1990-1996 – Painting studies at Vilnius Academy of Arts, Vilnius (Lithuania)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 – Lines and wrinkles (Dreams of the Living and Delusions of the Dead), Atletika, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2019 – Kaulai ir nuosėdos (Gyvųjų sapnai ir mirusiųjų svajonės), Artifex gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2018 – Wheel and Stick, project space ‘Sodų 4‘, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2018 – BBB (Bamba Big Band), VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2017 – Bamba Big Band repetition, project space ‘Garažas’, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2017 – Nana nananaaana, project space ‘Vitrina’, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2015 – Abracadabra, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2015 – Axis, POST Gallery, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2013 – From the other side - Žvėrynas 1989, Project Space Malonioji 6, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2012 – Show it, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2012 – Mediations, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2009 – Artscape-Finland, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2009 – Baltarusiški tapetai arba matyti nematomą, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2007 – Installation Little Jose, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2005 – Jurga Barilaitė, A. Mončys House-Museum, Palanga (Lithuania)
2005 – Installation: A Thin red line, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2002 – Painting: Self Defence, gallery Arka, Vilnius (Lithuania)
1996 – Installation: The Night of the Rose, St. Ignatius Church, Vilnius (Lithuania)
1994 – Painting, gallery Akademija, Vilnius (Lithuania)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 – Lithuania Reborn: 30 years young, Lithuanian Embassy, Brussels (Belgium)
2019 – Nauja Lietuvos dailės ekspozicija, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2019 – The Sweet Sweat of the Future, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2019 – Alytus Psychic Strike Biennial 2019: Quantumlettrist Psychopillgrimage travel from Botoşani to Alinja, Romania, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria
2019 – XVII a., Autarkia, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2019 – Starting Point, Mo museum, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2018 – All Art Is About Us, Mo museum, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2018 – 10 days in Locarno, gallery Il Rivellino, Locarno (Switzerland)
2018 – Spyruoklės laiku, M. Žilinskas art gallery, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2018 – M/A\G/M\A Body and Words in Italian and Lithuanian Women’s Art from 1965 to the Present, Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome (Italy)
2017 – M/A\G/M\A, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2016 – Žilvitis, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2014 – Close stranger, Klaipeda Culture Communication Center, Klaipėda (Lithuania)
2014 – Postidea III. Surface, gallery Kairė - dešinė, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2013 – Nordic Art station 2013, Eskilstuna Art Museum, Eskilstuna (Sweden)
2013 – LTMKS exhibition In the Graveyards of Interdisciplinarity, JMVAC, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2013 – Good Girls. Memory, Desire, Power, National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), Bucharest (Romania)
2013 – Postidea. Renewal II, Kaunas picture gallery, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2013 – Postidea. Renewal, Vilnius Academy of Arts exhibition spaces Titanikas, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2013 – Merry Melancholy, Nordic Art Station Festival, Eskilstuna Art Museum, Eskilstuna (Sweden)
2012 – Lithuanian Art 2012: 18 Exhibitions, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2012 – Postidea, Vilnius Academy of Arts exhibition spaces Titanikas (Vilnius)
2012 – Lithuania now, Liechtenstein Art Centre , Feldkirch (Austria)
2010 – From Artists' workshops, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2008 – Contemporary Lithuanian Art ANEW, City Gallery BWA, Bydgoszcz (Poland)
2007 – Private Conversations, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2007 – Experience shape, Muzej Idej, Lvov (Ukraine)
2006 – Balticalia Lithuania, New Realms LTD gallery, London (United Kingdom)
2006 – Double Game, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2005 – 1st Lithuanian Contemporary Art Quadriennale, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2005 – Jump from yourself, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2004 – Seven Rules of Painting, XII Vilnius Painting Triennial, Contemporary Art Centre (Vilnius)
2004 – Rewritable Memory, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2004 – Salt of Life, Contemporary Art from Baltic States, VARTAI Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2003 – Project Involved, video installation, Café de Paris, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2003 – International festival of video performances, Žilinskas Gallery, Kaunas (Lithuania)
2002 – Tracing, Disused printing-house, Vilnius (Lithuania)
2001 – Fairs, Contemporary Art Gallery, Šiauliai (Lithuania)
2000 – Project on advertising stands by the Union of Interdisciplinary Artists, Vilnius, (Lithuania)
2000 – Letter Box of Weimar, ACC Gallery, Weimar (Germany)
1999 – Sound and View, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (Lithuania)
1999 – Lithuanian Art 1989-1999: The Ten Years, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
1998 – Bitter Toys, Giedre Bartelt Gallery, Berlin (Germany)
1997 – Via Regia 97 – Look at the East, Railway Station, Erfurt (Germany)
1997 – Lithuanian Painting on Paper, Gallery Sparkasse, Erfurt (Germany)
1997 – Grosse Kunstausstellung Dusseldorf, Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf (Germany)
1996 – Sign for Kaunas, Kaunas (Lithuania)
1995 – 1995: Lithuanian Art, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
1995 – Bread and Salt, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
1995 – Cornerhouse Gallery, Manchester (United Kingdom)
1994 – Bread and Salt, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (Lithuania)
AWARDS/GRANTS
2005 – Lithuanian ministry of culture grant
2003 – Antanas Mončys award
1995 – Grant for residency at Internationale des Arts (France)
1994 – Young artist award at exhibition “Bread and Salt” in Contemporary Art Centre (Lithuania)
COLLECTIONS
National Museum of Art collection (Lithuania)
Mo museum collection (Lithuania)
Private collections in Lithuania and abroad
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STAND WITH UKRAINE
Auction exhibition 26 Apr - 31 May 2022Photos by Audrius SolominasRead more -
Jurga Barilaitė
BBB (Bamba Big Band) 16 Jan - 3 Feb 2018„BBB“ : A Revolution Re-sung The ' Bellybutton Big Band ' ('BBB') project by Jurga Barilaitė is a performative space whe re the body-orchestra resings the history in a punk...Read more -
Group show Žilvitis (Willow)
25th Vartai gallery anniversary marking exhibition 19 Feb - 9 Apr 2016From its very establishment in 1991, Galerija Vartai has been a prominent cultural centre, attracting a wide and diverse following both within and outside Lithuania. In addition to exhibitions of...Read more -
Jurga Barilaitė
ABRACADABRA 8 Jan - 7 Feb 2015The installation comprises four video stories which interconnect to weave a multilayered narrative. In the video work Abracadabra Counting Rhyme, which marks the beginning, the protagonist (the artist herself) insistently...Read more
PUBLICATIONS
2015 – Jurga Barilaitė, „Vizualinis dienoraštis“, in: letmekoo.lt, 2015-05-24
BOOKS/CATALOGUES
2019 – She Devil, Rome: CURA.BOOKS, 2019
2019 – Sodų 4 Projektų erdvė / Sodų 4 Project Space, ed.: Gabrielė Radzevičiūtė, Lina Rukevičiūtė, Vilnius: LTMKS, 2019
2018 – Kiekgi galima laukti / What Took You So Long, ed.: Monika Krikštopaitytė, Vilnius: Lewben Art Foundation, Lithuanian Expatriate Art Foundation, 2018
2018 – M/A\G/M\A Body and Words in Italian and Lithuanian Women's Art from 1965 to the Present, ed.: B. Carpi De Resmini, L. Kreivytė, Macerata: Quadlibet, 2018
2018 – BBB parodos gidas. Jurga Barilaitė, Vilnius: Postidėja, 2018
2018 – Postdisciplininis leksikonas, ed.: V. Michelkevičius, Vilnius: LTMKS, 2018
2017 – Loving art is art: contemporary artists from Lithuania, Imago Mundi Collection, ed.: Crocetta del Montello, Rome : Antiga edizioni, 2017
2014 – Pažink svetimšalį / Close Stranger, Klaipėda: KKKC, 2014
2014 – REMAKE Meno terminalas / Art Terminal, Klaipėda: KKKC, 2014
2014 – Atidarymai – Lietuvos dailės gyvenimo fragmentai 2005-2014, ed.: Monika Krikštopaitytė, Vilnius: Vilniaus Dailės Akademijos leidykla, 2014
2014 – Lietuvos tapyba 1960 – 2013 / Lithuanian painting 1960-2013, ed.: Raminta Jurėnaitė, Vilnius: Modernaus meno centras, 2014
2013 – Merry Melancholy Nordic Art Station 2013, Eskilstuna: Eskilstuna Museum of Art, 2013
2012 – Lietuvos dailė 2012: 18 parodų, Vilnius: ŠMC, 2012
2011 – (Ne)priklausomo šiuolaikinio meno istorijos / (In)dependent Contemporary Art Histories, ed.: Vytautas Michelkevičius, Kęstutis Šapoka, Vilnius: LTMKS, 2011
2011 – Už Baltos užuolaidos / Behind the White Curtain, Lithuanian Pavilion 54th International Art Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia, Vilnius: ŠMC, 2011
2010 – Gender Check: Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe, ed.: Bojana Pejić, Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2010
2010 – Gender Check: The Reader. Art and Theory in Eastern Europe, ed.: Bojana Pejić, Köln: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2010
2008 – Od Nowa: Contemporary Lithuanian Art ANEW, ed.: Krzysztof Stanislawski, Bydgoszcz: Municipal Art Gallery of Bydgoszcz, 2008
2006 – Lietuvių dailė: 1996 – 2005, ed.: Alfonsas Andriuškevičius, Vilnius: Vilniaus Dailės Akademijos leidykla, 2006
2004 – Gyvenimo druska/Salt of Life. Contemporary art from the Baltic states, Vilnius: Gallery Vartai, 2004
2004 – XII Vilniaus tapybos trienalė - Septynios tapybos tiesos / XII The Vilnius Painting Triennial – Seven Rules of Painting, Vilnius: Dailininkų sąjungos leidykla, 2004
2000 – 100 šiuolaikinių Lietuvos dailininkų, ed.: Raminta Jurėnaitė, Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2000
1999 – Lietuvos dailė 1989-1999: dešimt metų / Lithuanian Art 1989-1999: The Ten Years, Vilnius: ŠMC, 1999
1999 – Smile of Forsyth, Weimar: Geyersbach & Geitel, 1999
1998 – 72 lietuvių dailininkai - apie dailę, ed.: Alfonsas Andriuškevičius, Vilnius: Vilniaus Dailės Akademijos leidykla, 1998
1998 – Lithuanian Art Women Experience, Vilnius: ŠMC, 1998
1997 – Ženklas Kaunui: Projektas 2 / The Sign for Kaunas 2, Kaunas, 1997
1995 – 1995: Lietuvos dailė / 1995: Art in Lithuania, Vilnius: ŠMC, 1995
1994 – Duona ir druska / Breat and Salt, Vilnius: Soroso šiuolaikinio meno centras, 1994
ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
2018 – Ineta Armanavičiūtė, „Garsas ir laisvė”, in: Literatūra ir menas, no. 4 (3648), 2018-01-26
2018 – Aistė Paulina Virbickaitė, “Menininkė ir jos mažasis Chose”, in: Verslo žinios, 2018-01-13
2017 – Rūta Šetikaitė, “Tapybą praplečiantis videomenas”, in: VOXART, 2017-03-20
2015 – Dovilė Baravičiūtė, “Moteriškas žvilgsnis į meną”, in: Sekundė, 2015-03-28
2015 – Auridas Gajauskas, “Jurga Barilaitė – pragaras yra sugalvotas”, in: artnews.lt, 2015-01-20
2015 – Auridas Gajauskas, “Sprogęs kūrinys”, in: Dailė, no. 1, 2015
2012 – Rūta Mikšionienė, “J. Barilaitė parodoje bando apmąstyti kartos likimą”, lrytas.lt, 2012-04-30
2009 – Laima Kreivytė, „A painter with boxing gloves“, in: Lithuanian Culture Express, 2009-05
2004 – Alfonsas Andriuškevičius, “Negeri abu teptuko galai”, in: Šiaurės Atėnai, no. 21 (703), 2004-06-05
2004 – Audronė Žukauskaitė, “Ką teigia Heidegeris būtinosios ginties ir būties klausimu”, in: Šiaurės Atėnai, no. 21 (703), 2004-06-05
2004 – Renata Ščerbavičienė, “Šešios taisyklės, kaip žaisti Jurgą Barilaitę”, in: Dailė, no. 1, 2004
2002 – Austėja Čepauskaitė, “Būtinoji gintis”, in: 7 meno dienos, no. 8 (510), 2002-02-22
2002 – Laima Kreivytė, “Riksmo mutacijos (Pokalbis su Jurga Barilaite ir Egle Rakauskaite)”, in: 7 meno dienos, no. 12 (514), 2002-03-22
2000 – Margarita Jankauskaitė, “Plastinės kūno metaforos”, in: Menotyra, no. 4 (21), 2000
2000 – Skaidra Trilupaitytė, “Kai į mane žiūri – rėkiu…”, in: Krantai, no. 1 (97), 2000
1999 – Raminta Jurėnaitė, “Liudesys – džiaugsmo pažadas”, in: Kultūros barai, no. 8/9 (417/418), 1999
1999 – Raimundas Malašauskas, “Juodraštis”, in: Šiaurės Atėnai, no. 32 (276), 1995
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Charity auction Stand With Ukraine
May 2, 2022On May 5, Galerija Vartai and National volunteer support coordination center 'Strong Together' will hold a charity auction of contemporary art and design - STAND...Read more -
Cornice Art Fair 2007
Venice, Italy 7 - 10 Jun 2007Presented artists: JURGA BARILAITĖ PAULINA EGLĖ PUKYTĖ ANDRIUS ZAKARAUSKASRead more -
Art Cologne 2005
Cologne, Germany 28 Oct - 1 Nov 2005Presented artists: JURGA BARILAITĖ EGLĖ KUCKAITĖ EGLĖ RIDIKAITĖRead more
